A member of the Lisu hill tribe picks Thai Arabica coffee beans at the Thai High coffee farm in Phrao, northern Thailand. The organic fair trade coffee farm was chosen to help produce the Black Ivory Coffee. The new brand of coffee is produced by harvesting the beans from the dung of a Thai elephant. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

A member of the Lisu hill tribe shows off the harvested coffee beans at the Thai High coffee farm. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

Thai elephants during an early morning graze at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

Lun, a Thai mahout, or elephant caretaker, stirs up what will be a meal for the elephants at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

Coffee beans are seen being put into a mixture with fruit and rice that will be feed for elephants. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

The mahout stirs the mixture with fruit and rice. The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, a refuge for rescued elephants, now earns 8 percent of the coffee's total sales, which go toward the herd's health care. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

A mahout watches as elephants are fed at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort in northern Thailand. Think of the elephant as the animal kingdom's equivalent of a slow cooker. It takes between 15-30 hours to digest the beans, which stew together with bananas, sugar cane and other ingredients in the elephant's vegetarian diet to infuse unique earthy and fruity flavors, said the 42-year-old Canadian who founded Black Ivory coffee. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

The feed mixture on the ground after an elephant eats offers clues as to why it takes 72 pounds of raw coffee cherries to produce 2 pounds of Black Ivory coffee. The majority of beans get chewed up, broken or lost in tall grass after being excreted. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

Niang, a mahout's wife, and her daughter Ari, 6, look for elephant dung at the camp. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

Niang, a mahout's wife and her daughter Ari, 6, wash the coffee beans thoroughly after picking them from the dung at an elephant camp. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

A balance brewer makes Black Ivory coffee at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort. At USD$500 per pound, the cost per serving of the elephant coffee equals USD$50, making the exotic new brew the world's priciest. Paula Bronstein, Getty Images